The notion that prisons are a ‘world apart’, with their
walls severing prisoners from their external relationships, and
incarceration an interruption, ‘time away’ spent in a separate social
universe, has provided an adequate framework for understanding the
social realities of imprisonment in the past. But it has also created an
analytical dead angle that prevents us from identifying the ramifying
social effects of concentrated incarceration upon both the prison and
heavily penalized lower-class neighborhoods. This article addresses these
effects with data from an ethnographic revisit of a major women’s prison
in Portugal, where the recomposition of the inmate population that has
accompanied the rapid inflation of the country’s carceral population is
especially pronounced and entails the activation of wide-ranging
carceralized networks bringing kinship and neighborhood into the prison
as well as the prison into the domestic world. The analysis focuses on the
ways whereby these constellations have transformed the experience of
confinement and the texture of correctional life, calling for a
reconsideration of the theoretical status of the prison as a ‘total
institution’ and for exploring anew the boundary that separates it (or not)
from outside worlds.; Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research.

We described the distribution of risk factors for cardiovascular disease among homeless people living in the city of Porto, Portugal. Comparisons were made between subsamples of homeless people recruited in different settings and between the overall homeless sample group and a sample of the general population. All "houseless" individuals attending one of two homeless hostels or two institutions providing meal programs on specific days were invited to participate and were matched with subjects from the general population. We estimated sex, age and education-adjusted prevalence ratios or mean differences. The prevalence of previous illicit drug consumption and imprisonment was almost twice as high among the homeless from institutions providing meal programs. This group also showed lower mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Prevalence of smoking was almost 50% higher in the overall homeless group. Mean body mass index and waist circumference were also lower in the homeless group and its members were almost five times less likely to report dyslipidemia. Our findings contribute to defining priorities for interventions directed at this segment of society and to reducing inequalities in this extremely underprivileged population

We described the distribution of risk factors for cardiovascular disease among homeless people living in the city of Porto, Portugal. Comparisons were made between subsamples of homeless people recruited in different settings and between the overall homeless sample group and a sample of the general population. All "houseless" individuals attending one of two homeless hostels or two institutions providing meal programs on specific days were invited to participate and were matched with subjects from the general population. We estimated sex, age and education-adjusted prevalence ratios or mean differences. The prevalence of previous illicit drug consumption and imprisonment was almost twice as high among the homeless from institutions providing meal programs. This group also showed lower mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Prevalence of smoking was almost 50% higher in the overall homeless group. Mean body mass index and waist circumference were also lower in the homeless group and its members were almost five times less likely to report dyslipidemia. Our findings contribute to defining priorities for interventions directed at this segment of society and to reducing inequalities in this extremely underprivileged population.

OBJECTIVE--To investigate the clinical characteristics and metabolic control of diabetic patients given structured diabetic care in prison. DESIGN--Survey of diabetic men serving prison sentences during a 22 month period in a large British prison. SETTING--HM Prison, Walton, Liverpool. SUBJECTS--42 male diabetic prisoners, of whom 23 had insulin dependent and 19 non-insulin dependent diabetes. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Episodes of diabetic instability, glycated haemoglobin concentrations, body mass index. RESULTS--No serious diabetic instability occurred. Between the initial assessment by the visiting consultant diabetologist and a second assessment 10 weeks later glycated haemoglobin concentrations had fallen from 10.8 (SD 2.9)% to 9.8 (2.4)% (p less than 0.05) in prisoners with insulin dependent diabetes and from 8.7 (1.9)% to 7.6 (1.2)% (p less than 0.05) in those with non-insulin dependent diabetes. Good glycaemic control continued, a mean glycated haemoglobin concentration of 7.6 (1.5)% being recorded in seven men remaining in prison for six to 18 months. Mean body mass index (weight (kg)/(height(m))2) did not change during the study (insulin dependent prisoners 23.3 (SD 2.1), non-insulin dependent prisoners 27.9 (3.8)). CONCLUSIONS--Good diabetic metabolic control is usual in prison...

Gossypiboma or textiloma is referred to as a surgical gauze or towel inadvertently retained inside the body following surgery. It is an infrequent but avoidable surgical complication, which must be kept in mind in any postoperative patient who presents with pain, infection, or palpable mass. Gossypiboma, in the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur, proves that the surgeon is negligent. Moreover, it has medicolegal consequences including mental agony, humiliation, huge monetary compensation and imprisonment on the part of the surgeon and increased morbidity, mortality and financial loss on the part of the patient. Here we report two cases of gossypiboma and review its current medicolegal aspect in relation to the surgeon.

After four decades of steady growth, U.S. states’ prison populations finally appear to be declining, driven by a range of sentencing and policy reforms. One of the most popular reform suggestions is to expand probation supervision in lieu of incarceration. However, the classic socio-legal literature suggests that expansions of probation instead widen the net of penal control and lead to higher incarceration rates. This article reconsiders probation in the era of mass incarceration, providing the first comprehensive evaluation of the role of probation in the build-up of the criminal justice system. The results suggest that probation was not the primary driver of mass incarceration in most states, nor is it likely to be a simple panacea to mass incarceration. Rather, probation serves both capacities, acting as an alternative and as a net-widener, to varying degrees across time and place. Moving beyond the question of diversion versus net widening, this article presents a new theoretical model of the probation-prison link that examines the mechanisms underlying this dynamic. Using regression models and case studies, I analyze how states can modify the relationship between probation and imprisonment by changing sentencing outcomes and the practices of probation supervision. When combined with other key efforts...

The United States criminal justice and welfare systems are two important government institutions in the lives of the poor. Despite many theoretical discussions about their relationship, their operation at the level of offenders and families remains poorly understood. This paper utilizes Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing data to examine how recent paternal incarceration is associated with families’ receipt of TANF, food stamps, and Medicaid/SCHIP. Results robust to multiple tests find that incarceration is not related to subsequent TANF receipt but is significantly associated with increased receipt of food stamps and Medicaid/SCHIP. The findings suggest that greater government involvement among poor families is an unexpected consequence of mass imprisonment; however, increased participation does not include TANF—the cash assistance program of most concern to theorists.

Corruption is bad for development.
Leaving aside the morality of bribe taking, influence
peddling, embezzlement, and other abuses of power for
personal or narrow group gain, corruption impedes investment
and growth and exacerbates poverty and inequality. Human
beings are prone to self-seeking behavior. What constrains
individual behavior and makes it conform to larger
collective ends includes the laws that form the core of
norms and institutions. Corruption can never be completely
or permanently eliminated. Effective and durable corruption
control requires multiple, reinforcing, and overlapping
institutions of accountability. And where corruption is
endemic, these institutions need to be of three kinds:
horizontal accountability, vertical accountability, and
external accountability.

In 1992, following a decade of negative publicity and a series of public inquiries into
mental health services, the Australian Federal, State and Territory Governments
adopted a National Mental Health Policy. This policy, through a series of five year
National Mental Health Plans (NMHPlans), became known as the National Mental
Health Strategy (NMHS).
The aims of the National Strategy were, and still are, to develop a framework of
mental health care services which promotes mental health; prevents mental illness
where possible; reduces the burden of mental illness on sufferers, carers and the
general community; and treats persons with a mental illness in a way which satisfies
the United Nation' s Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental fllness and
the Improvement of Mental Health Care.
Upon release, this policy was widely acclaimed and considered an international
benchmark. Now, more than a decade later, a recent review by the Canadian Senate,
several evaluations of the Strategy, and a widespread review of the mental health
sector show this opinion is still supported. However, in the case of mental health care
in Australia, it is apparent that world class policy does not necessarily equate to world
class outcomes.
Despite increased investment...

Corruption can never be completely or
permanently eliminated. The question is, how can it be
controlled? How can a country move from a situation where
corruption may be the norm to a situation where corruption
is morally intolerable and behaviorally rare? To control
corruption, the expected costs of engaging in corruption
must be dramatically increased. Public officals must
perceive a substantial risk that if they engage in corrupt
conduct they will lose their offices, forfeit illegally
acquired wealth, and even go to prison. Implementing such
sanctions aganist corruption requires an institutional
framework to control corruption. Effective and durable
corruption control requires multiple, reinforcing, and
overlapping institutions of accountability. Where corruption
is endemic, these institutions need to be of three kinds:
horizontal accountability, vertical accountability, and
external accountability. The primary institutions of
horizontal accountability are the law, anti-corruption
bodies, the ombudsman's office...

Marshall McLuhan's "global village", and his theories on communications and
technology, in conjunction with Patrick McGoohan's television series The Prisoner
(ATV, 1967-1968) are explored in this thesis. The Prisoner, brainchild of McGoohan, is
about the abduction and confinement of a British government agent imprisoned within
the impenetrable boundaries of a benign but totalitarian city -state called "The Village".
The purpose of his abduction and imprisonment is for the extraction of information
regarding his resignation as a government spy. Marshall McLuhan originally popularized
the phrase "the global village" in The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making o/the Topographic
Man (1962), asserting that, "The new electronic interdependence recreates the world in
the image of a global village" (p. 31). This thesis argues that valid parallels exist between
McGoohan's conception of "village", as manifested in The Prisoner, and McLuhan's
global village.
The comprehensive methodological stratagem for this thesis includes Marshall
McLuhan's "mosaic" approach, Mikhail Bakhtin's concept ofthe "chronotope", as well
as a Foucauldian genealogicallhistorical discourse analysis. In the process of
deconstructing McLuhan's texts and The Prisoner as products of the 1960s...

To develop a protocol for prevention of hepatitis B virus (HBV) transmission in Wisconsin prisons, we interviewed 619 male prisoners at incarceration to obtain information on hepatitis B risk factors. We defined previous infections by the presence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs), or antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc). Logistic regression was used to develop a model of relative risk (RR) of HBV infection. Use of illicit intravenous (IV) drugs was the most important risk factor because of a high prevalence of IV drug use and an RR which ranged from 2.93-7.47. Other important risk factors were: prior hepatitis or jaundice (RR = 6.28), race (RR = 2.54 for Blacks, RR = 3.28 for Latinos), transfusion (RR = 3.00), and age. Previous imprisonment was not an independent risk factor for HBV, hence selective serologic screening and vaccination of prisoners are justified rather than mass screening and vaccination. Based upon prevalence of hepatitis B markers in subgroups, it is necessary to screen prisoners with prior hepatitis or jaundice, prior transfusion, and users of IV drugs. The identification of HBsAg carriers by such screening could prevent infection of "household" contacts. Users of IV drugs who are susceptible to HBV infection should be vaccinated. The remaining prisoners constitute a low-risk group for HBV infection and do not require serologic screening or vaccination.

Debtors’ prisons are back, in the form of imprisonment for nonpayment of criminal fines, fees, and costs. While the new debtors’ prisons are not historically or doctrinally continuous with the old, recent developments in criminal law suggest that some parts of them offend the same functional and moral principles that compelled the abolition of the old debtors’ prisons. Legal actors may therefore plausibly interpret the constitutional and statutory texts that abolished the old debtors’ prisons to constitute checks on the new — or a new abolitionist movement might deploy new constitutional texts. While the criminal law literature is starting to grapple with the question of debtors’ prisons, this piece engages with the metaphor head-on and asks how the old ban on debtors’ prisons should be reinterpreted for a new era of mass incarceration.

Spain has suffered a big increase of imprisonment between 1980 and 2006, passing from an average prison population of 17,000 prisoners in 1980 to 63,000 in 2006, meaning a growth of 266% in average prison population in 26 years. In order to explore the reasons for this increase in prison population, this paper proposes that is useful to distinguish two main periods: a) 1980-1994 (increase in prison population, followed by stability between 1995 and 2000, and b) 2001-2006 (a second increase in prison population). During these two periods, the growth of incarceration rates is higher in the first period (12% average increase per year) than in the second (6% average increase per year). More recent trends seem to announce an even more pronounced escalation of imprisonment in the foreseeable future. Authors proposes that the two trends that in Spain contribute to the enlargement of the prison incarceration rates, the larger time served by prisoners and the criminalization of new phenomena, will continue in the future.; A Espanha sofreu um grande aumento das taxas de encarceramento entre 1980 e 2006, passando de uma população carcerária média de 17.000 presos em 1980 para 63.000 em 2006, significando um crescimento de 266% na população carcerária média em 26 anos. A fim de explorar as razões para este aumento da população prisional...

The aristocratic life indicates the individual education, education of loneliness and education of distinction that requires self-criticism as an element for self-overcoming of the great individuality. Therefore it is not about an education for everybody but for the ones that have reverence for themselves. In this article we intend to present the reasons that base an aristocratic education in Nietzsche which make sense in the comprehension of the pettiness, the fearful, the stupid, in the human mass. For this analysis the context of the conditioning of imprisonment and human mass education find space. The used methodology in the investigation consists in the bibliographical research, once it is a philosophic research on education. The outcome results point to the need of a new man’s profile capable of getting over the state of insignificance, pettiness and fear.; A vida aristocrática indica a educação individual, a educação da solidão e a educação do destaque, que requer a autocrítica como elemento para a autossuperação da grande individualidade. Portanto, não se trata de uma educação para todos, mas para os que têm reverência por si mesmos. Neste artigo, pretendemos apresentar as razões que fundamentam a educação aristocrática em Nietzsche e que encontram sentido na compreensão do mesquinho...